SUMMARY

The Kingdom of Sweden has existed as a united state in various forms and sizes since medieval times, but emerged as a more modern state in the 16th century. Sweden grew in size during its imperial days in the 17th century, but lost its eastern half (present day Finland) to Russian control in 1809 and control of Norway in 1905. Since then, Sweden’s borders have been stable and during the 20th century the country consolidated its position as a stable multiparty democracy.

Sweden, having been severely weakened politically and militarily in the 18th and 19th centuries, abandoned all imperial and colonial ambitions and did not, like many other European countries, establish any durable colonial acquisitions. The country also chose a neutral stand in foreign politics in the 20th century, a stance that kept the country outside of the Second World War and the Cold War rivalries.

On 7 April 2017 Drottninggatan in Stockholm was attacked when an attacker with ties to IS hijacked beer truck plowed into pedestrians killing 5 civilians.

In terms of secondary warring support Sweden, although not a member of NATO at the time, contributed troops to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, to aid the government of that country in the intrastate conflict against the Taleban which begun in 2003. The Swedish contribution ended when the mission formally terminated in 2014.

Sweden has no recorded conflicts as a sovereign state in UCDP data.